Process of making cereal food products.



G. H. RICHARDS.

rnocnss OI MAKING CEREAL FOOD PRODUCTS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3 Patented Oct. 20, 1908.

' 2 SHEETS- APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3, 1907.

Patented 0011.20, 1908.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. RICHARDS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, asslenoa oF'rHnEE-FoURTHs "ro LoUIs ARMSTRONG, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS;

PBO'CESS OF MAKING CEREAL FOOD PRODUCTS.

. V Patented Oct. 2.6, 1908.

Application filed June 8, 1907. lea-hi No. 877 086.

To allnwhom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. RICHARDS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new anduse: ful Improvements in Processes of Making 'Cereal Food Products; and I do hereby declare that the following is-a full, clear,

and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a novel process for manufacturing a cereal food product, and the invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In carrying out my process to produce said cereal product, the granules or particles of the particular cereal selected are first moistened to soften the same. Thereafter the softened particles are subject to ressure between relatively -mov1ng sur aces which cause said particles tochange their shape and texture, and also dry the same. The moving surfaces herein illustrated by which the cereal particles are thus treated are so shaped as to first flattenthe particles into wafer like forms and the flattened particles or wafers are thereafter rolled up or twisted to give final or finished form to the product.

The flattening or reducing of the individual granules or particles of the cereal and the,

subsequent rolling thereof take place under conditions which remove the molsture frolrln the material, imparted thereto durin softening -operat1on, so that the finished product is dry and crisp and is ready without further preparation to be laced in ackages for shipping. The so enin o the particles or granules of the cerea may be. best accomplished by subjecting the cerealto a cooking process, when the cereal is of a nature requirlng OOOkHI which receive the particles of cereal and subject the same to pressure to flatten the same;

from the material and leaving moisture an The treatment of the softened material etween relatively moving surfaces, which acts to first flatten and other inclined surfaces which receive said flattened particles and roll the same into their final or finished form. In operating upon particles varying considerably in their dimensions the relatively moving inclined surfaces of the disks or stones may operate to break up the larger particles. The-heat generated between the rapidly revolving isks or stones and the material which is be irfltg flattened and rolled between them has the, e e

ct to substantially heat the' material being operated upon and the opposing disksor stones, and the air circulating about the flattening and rollin stones or disks serves to carry away the eated moisture laden air with the result of removingthe moisture the material after it .has been subjected to nal treatment in the form of a dry and crisp substance.

The granules or cereal articles after bein flattened and rolled in t e manner describe are discharged in the form of elongated,

generally c'ylindric particles which have a general volute formation and also a spiral or twisted rope-like formation, of dIflerent lengths depending upon the size of the individual particles from which the finished product has been formed. .After the dry cylinders or curls receive their finished form they absorb more .or less moisture'from the atmosphere which has theeflect of slightly toughening the same so that the product may be handled without danger of it breaklvlll down or being reduced to owder.

en used as a breakfast food, it IS desirable to heat or toast the product before serv-- ing, thus dryin out themoisture taken up thereby from t e atmosphere and restorin the product to its.;original freshness an crispness. The step'of the process of subjectmg the anular cereal to moisture or vary in time in accordance with the properties of the particular cereal used;

For afull and complete disclosure of the process as applied to the treatment of hominy to roduce thefood product,'I may state that I ave subjected the hominy to a boil-' ing or cooking process in a closed vessel for from fifty to sixty minutes under a pressure of twenty pounds of steam and its correlative temperature to render the hominy soft for the subsequent flattening and rolling treatment. For other cereals the period of subjecting the same to the softening process heat totsoften the same will will be varied according to the properties of the cereal. Furthermore, the cylinder-like curls of the finished product may be varied in dimensions by varying the space by which the flattenin surfaces are separated. When a relatively arge diameter cylinder or curl I is desired, the flattening and rolling surfaces particles, of a genera cylindric shape, and

of volute-like formation, as stated.

A characteristic. property of the food product is its light texture, rendering it highly desirable as a breakfast food, both by reason of its wholesomeness and delicacy of taste and making it also a desirable constituent of a confection. Such lightness of texture results from the pressure to which the particles of cereal are subjected, and from the other mechanical treatment whichthey receive in the process of forming the novel product; and the step in the process of cansing the particles of cereal to assume such a texture is important, irrespective of the shape which the particles finally assume as the result of the treatment.

In carrying out the process, as hereinafter more fully disclosed, the novel food product which results consists of rolled particles of a general cylindric shape and of volute-like formation, but Within the spirit and scope of my invention the product resulting from such treatment may consist of partlcles of other form, and I do not desire to be limited in my invention to particles of food product of any particular form except as hereinafter made the subject of specific claims.

Material from which the food product is made may consist of any suitable granular cereal either in the form of its natural grain or in the form of particles broken or reduced from the natural grain. In most cases the grain will be separated from its integument or hull and embryo before it is subjected to the reducing treatment between the disks or stones.

A form of apparatus adapted to treat a previously softened granular cereal in the manner above described is shown in the accompanying drawings and comprises a pair of mill stones or disks with their faces dressed in the peculiar manner hereinafter described.

As shown in said drawings :-Figures 1 and 2 are plan views of the working faces of the two flattening and rolling disks. Figs. 3 and 4 are enlarged detail plan views of portions of the twodisks shown in Figs. 1 and 2, respectively. Fig. 5' is a section taken on lines 5-5 of Figs. 1 and 2, showing the two disks arranged in operative relation to each other. Fig. 6 is a section taken on the lines 6-(5 of Figs. 3 and 4 showing the two disks arranged in operative relation to each other. Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7-7 of Fig. 4-. Fig. 8 is a section on the line 88 of Fig. 3. Fig. 9 is a view showing in perspective an iudividualcylinder or curl of the novel food product which results from treating a granular cereal in the manner herein described. Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view' partly in section,-illustrating the volute formation of one of said cylinders or curls.

As shown in said drawings, A and A indicate two millstones or disks which are of the well known annular form and which will usually be arranged in vertical planes with their Working faces toward each other and separated a distance dependent upon the size of the particles of finished product which it is desired to produce. Either or both of'said disks may be turned or driven in such manner as to afford relative rotative movement between them. The working faces of the disks are of like construction with the exception of a slight difference in the arrangement of the grooves in their working faces, as will hereinafter be explained. Each of said disks has on its inner face a central, concave part or recess A into which is fed the material to be acted upon, and an annular marginal grinding surface which is generally flat and parallel with the corresponding surface of the other disk, and on which are formed grooves or furrows and intervening lands or ridges.

Eachpof the disks is provided on its marginal working portion with alternate lands B and grooves or furrows C C The said furrows are arranged to extend from the inner to the outer margin of the annular working surface, and are inclined with respect to radial lines of the disks. The outer parts of the furrows are inclined with respect to the main parts thereof and are at smaller angles with the radial lines of the disks, the purpose of such change in direction of the furrows being to lessen at the outer parts of the disks the rate of outward feed'or travelof the material being acted upon. The faces of the lands B B are flat and in planes perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the disks.

Each of the grooves C- C is formed with a shoulder (5 at one side thereof, said shoulder being perpendicular to the flat faces of the lands B B, and an inclined bottom surface as shown by the arrows, in a direction to carry the shoulders c of the furrows C O in.

advance ofthe inclined surfaces 0 thereof. The two disks A\A are also provided with a series of auxiliary recesses or grooves, located adjacent to and extending outwardly from the central recesses of said disks and of which those in the diskAA are indicated by D D and those in the disk A are indicated by DD. One of the. said'grooves D or D is located at the inner end of each of the main rooves C CH Said grooves or recesses D are, moreover, provided with bottom surfaces which are inclined in the same direction as the bottom surfaces of the main grooves C C, but which are at a greater inclination to the flat surfaces of the lands than the said grooves C C said rooves D D because of the reater inclinab 7 tion of their bottom surfaces, being of greater depth at their deepest parts than said main grooves C 'C.

Between the central recesses of the disks A A and the outer annular working faces thereof are formed abrupt annular surfaces or shoulders E E, as shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8, and the said auxiliary grooves D D open into the said central recesses through I said shoulders E E Said auxiliary rooves D D form openings or spaces throug which the material to be treated or acted upon by the disks passes from said central recesses to and between the working faces of said disks. The grooves D D in the two disks are generally alike, but as preferably constructed, difier somewhat from each other in the two disks, as will appear from the following:

Each of the grooves D is made by cutting perpendicularly into the face of the disk A along a line 3, which is tangent to a circle of slightly less radius than the inner circumference or shoulder E at the inner edge of the workin face of the disk, andby forming an ob ique flat face d extendingfrom a line (1 which coincides with the shallower edge of the roove D, until it meets the lower edge of t e shoulder formed along the line d. Said shoulder, indicated by the line (I, extends across the inner end of the groove C and terminates at the annular surface or shoulder E and is, by reason of the inclination ofthe bottom face of the groove, of tapered form; being deepest at the line of its intersection with the surface E and extending to a point at its outer end, where it meets the line d Each groove D in the disk A is made by cutting perpendicularly into the face of said disk along a line (i tangent to the inner circumference or shoulder E at the inner margin of the workin face of the disk and extending at an ang e across the inner end of the groove G into the face of the adjacent land B, and by forming an oblique surface d constituting the bottom of said groove, which surface extends from a line d parallel with the abrupt shoulder of the next adjacent oove C to" the lower edge or margin 0 said shoulder d Said shoulder d is of tapered form and of greatest depth where it meets the annular shoulder E By this construction of the groove D a narrow land portion d forming an extension of the land B on the disk A is formed between the trailing edge of said groove D and the leading edge of said groove C By inspection of Fig. 6 it will be seen that the construction described in the inner or auxiliary grooves D D provides along the annular shoulders E E at the imier margins of the working faces of the disks, a series of spaces of considerable width into which the particles of the material being operated upon may enter.in thepassage of said particles from the central recesses into the space between the working faces 'of the disks.

The operation of the'disks to carry out my novel process is as follows: The material operated upon will usually be cracked and cooked corn or homin and the same will be fed in a moist condition into the central recess between the two disks. The operation will be the same, however, when the material consists of other cereals, cooked or uncooked. The material fed to the central space between the disks is thrown outwardly by centrifu a1 force and the articles thereof first enter t e spaces formed y and between the inner or auxiliary grooves D D which, Y

in the deeper portions thereof, afi'ord s aces wide enough to receive the largest 0 said particles. .As the particles of material pass outwardly along the inclined bottom sur v faces of said auxiliary grooves D D they are caught between said bottom surfaces of the opposed grooves and carried between the adjacent surfaces of the lands between said auxiliar grooves, whereby each particle is squeeze or compressed to form a fiat flake. By such squeezing or compressing, the

greater part of the moisture is removed om the particles and carried away by centrifugal force and the outwardly moving air currents due thereto. The flat flakes thus formed, intheir outward radial movement, are carried into the main furrows C C and being caught between the inclined bottom surfaces of the o posite furrows and between the o posite ands are squeezed, kneaded and rol ed in such manner that they become spongy or porous in texture and assume the form of small, elongated flaky cylinders ofgeneral volute formation. These cylinders are carried outwardl between the adjacent land surfaces until a1 moisture has been excluded or driven off by the pressure upon' the particles and by the heat due to the friction between the moving surfaces and the material, and the material is discharged at the outer margins of the disks completely dried. The change in the direction of the main furrows C has the effect of retarding the outward progress of the particles of material-so that they will remain a sufficiently long time under the action of the lands to insure the drying thereof before they are discharged from between the disks.

I claim as my invention 1. The process of making a cereal food product which consists in cooking the granular cereal until thoroughly softened, and thereafter treating the softened particles between relatively moving surfaces to first reduce the thickness of said particles and then roll them up and to" completely dry the same simultaneously with the rolling up step of the process.

2. The process of making a cereal food product which consists in cooking a gran-,

ular cereal until thoroughly softened, and thereafter treating the softened cooked particles between relatively moving surfaces in a manner to flatten the particles and then roll them up, the action of the relatively moving surfaces on the material being such as to completely dry the same simultaneously with the rolling up step of the process.

manner to firs ular cereal to moisture to soften the same, 3

and thereafter treating the softened particles between relyively moving surfaces in a flatten the-same and then roll them up, the action of the relatively moving surfaces on the material being such as to completely dry thefisame simultaneously with the rolling up step of the process.

4. The process of treating hominy to produce a food product which consists incooking the hominy until thoroughly softened,

and thereafter treating the softened partiv cles between relatively movlng surfaces to first reduce the thickness of said particles and then roll them up and to completely dry the same simultaneously with the rolling up step of the process. 1 In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention I afiix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses, this 27th day of May A. D. 1907.

CHARLES H. RICHARDS. \Vitnesses GEORGE R. VVILKIN-s, S. D. HIRspHE. 

